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45. Getting your head blown off by a shotgun

As Seen In: Maniac (1980)

Some might call Maniac's infamous shotgun-to-the-head scene a case of twisted masochism, but, to us, it's simply badass. Handling the discomforting effects on director William Lustig's vile (yet awesome) exploitation flick, Tom Savini had to create several woman-skewering visuals, since the film's slasher is a disturbed sicko who loves scalping the ladies. But one sequence, where the horrid Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) must first kill the boyfriend before getting the girl, required a male victim—a change of pace.

Naturally, Savini opted to play the guy, thus sealing his place in horror's pantheon as one of the genre's most memorable casualties. He and his sexy friend are necking in a parked car when Zito, hooded and armed, leaps onto the car's hood, points his sawed-off weapon directly at Savini, and fires away. The result, which you can peep here, isn't pretty. But it is pretty fucking epic.